I'm a New Yorker who visited California for the first time. Here are 9 things that surprised me most

[localroger]

5. New Orleanian here, and yep there's some great stuff out there

Balboa Park is indeed magical. The zoo is in the park of course, but there's also a pretty good high end restaurant in the zoo. In a treehouse. The maritime museum is also worth seeing; you can board and wander around several historic ships, including Surprise, the ship from Master and Commander. Of course my reason for going to San Diego was also to take the Blue Line to the border and have some dental work done.

I've also been to LA and particularly Santa Monica a few times for work, and to San Francisco a few times on vacation. SF is one of the few large cities anywhere in the US I would voluntarily return to entirely for fun. (Sorry, NYC.) Unfortunately the cost of living, particularly rent, keeps me in NOLA which of course fortunately has its own charms.